say my name, say my name~

There was a girl who was born two years after the complication of her sister's birth. Knowing that it was the second caesarian labour for the mother, after her first child who didn't manage to survive, she knew that the most number of children she'll get would only be two. So the couple decided to give a long name to their two children; the newborn and the one after who was born 2 years later. The newborn girl was named “Dayang Nurfatin Farzana” and this “girl” is me.

I asked my mom, “why was I named as such, out of all the names in the world?” Well there's of course a reason to everything. “Dayang” is actually a title name I get from my father's side. It is said that my ancestors comes from the Brunei royal family which have “Awang” and “Dayang” as titles. So I am somehow and somewhat related to the Brunei Royal Family.

As far as I know, most Malay Muslim's names are derived from Arabic words that had been modernised. The names portray certain particular meanings. My name, “Nurfatin” was actually a combination of “Nur” which means “light” and “Fatin” which means “petite” or “small”. So “Nurfatin” actually means “the light of a captivating petite girl”. My mom told me that I was born very small and cute. That's why they called me ”Fatin”.

Based on my research, “Farzana” comes from an African word which means “wise” or “intelligent”. My dad wants his children to be intelligent as they grow, so he finds a name that could reflect the meaning. He found “farzana” for me and “ariffin” for my brother which carries almost the same meaning. Putting all my names together; “Dayang Nurfatin Farzana” means “the light of a petite, captivating and wise girl”.

Credits to Google, I found ways to write and pronounce my name in three different languages.

ENGLISH	CHINESE	ARABIC	JAPANESE
DAYANG	达杨 = da yang	دايانغ = dayangh	デイアング = deiangu
NURFATIN	奴法廷 = nu fa ting	نورفاتن = nwrfatn	ナーファッティン = nafattin
FARZANA	法扎纳 = fa zha na	فرزانة = farzanah	ファーザナー = fazana

Long names or short, never really matters. The real question is, what's behind your name? I found mine. What's yours? ^^